The Mechanism of Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Affecting Academic Engagement: The Mediating Effect of Teacher-Student Relationship and Its Temporal Characteristics

Abstract

This longitudinal study investigates the mediating role of teacher-student relationships in the link between depression and academic engagement among adolescents. A sample of 726 adolescents (mean age = 13.6 years) was assessed across two time points to examine short-term and long-term effects. The results revealed that depressive symptoms significantly and negatively predicted academic engagement both in the short-term (β = -0.49, p < 0.001) and long-term (β = -0.36, p < 0.001), although the long-term effect was weaker. Teacher-student relationships were found to be a partial mediator. The short-term indirect effect (β = -0.12, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.07]) accounted for 19.9% of the total effect, which was substantially larger than the negligible long-term indirect effect (β = -0.02, 95% CI [-0.04, 0.00]). Prior academic engagement positively predicted subsequent engagement. These findings indicate that depression impairs academic engagement both directly and indirectly by damaging teacher-student relationships, with this mediation being more pronounced in the short term. This highlights the need for educational interventions focused on fostering positive teacher-student relationships to mitigate the academic impacts of adolescent depression.